For Paul George, returning home to L.A. is temporary but worth it

Indiana Pacer Paul George coaches children during his annual summer youth basketball camp at Heritage Christian School in North Hills Saturday, July 19, 2014. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht/Los Angeles Daily News)

Indiana Pacer Paul George coaches children during his annual summer youth basketball camp at Heritage Christian School in North Hills Saturday, July 19, 2014. (Photo by Hans Gutknecht/Los Angeles Daily News)

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There weren’t a whole lot of NBA players making stops in Paul George’s hometown back in the day. The Antelope Valley might only be 64 miles from Los Angeles, but when it comes to luring star power it might as well be on the other side of the planet.

So when George looked out to the 100 or so wide-eyed faces staring back at him at his one-day camp at Heritage Christian High in North Hills on Saturday, he really didn’t see himself as much as who he wanted to be all those years ago.

“I never had the chance being out in Palmdale,” George said. “We never got the opportunity to even meet someone in the NBA.”

It’s one of the reasons the Indiana Pacers All-Star forward is so adamant about making the necessary time to give back to his young fans. His annual camp in Indianapolis and the one in Los Angeles is his way of giving youths something he didn’t have access to growing up.

George gets just as much out of it as the kids.

“I never got that chance, so this is what it’s all about,” he said. “So they can have one of those moments. As well as myself. I love being around kids and I love being a mentor and role model, so this is fun for me.”

It also gives him a chance to spend more quality time in his home away from home. For George, the three months he lives in Los Angeles offer a welcome reprieve after living the rest of the year in Indianapolis. He loves everything about being a Pacer and living in the Midwest, but don’t think for a moment he ignores the California blood that still runs in his veins.

“When I get the chance to come home, I really like to be home,” he said.

It’s kind of ironic when you think about it, but it wasn’t all that long ago when the general assumption was George would be back here on a full-time basis playing for the Lakers.

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His rookie contract was coming up with the Pacers, and with the Lakers having money coming off the books they’d be in position to lure him home with a max contract and the chance to be the Lakers’ next great superstar.

It was an enticing thought and George was flattered, given his affinity for the Lakers and childhood hero Kobe Bryant.

And there’s nothing quite like the pull of a passionate fan base casting a longing eye on you, especially when they just happened to represent your hometown team. Lakers fans made it known loud and clear last summer George was on their wish list.

“It was great as well as a little overboard,” he said. “It was great in the sense of Lakers fans and Los Angeles in general wanting me to come home and play for the Lakers and play at home.”

But it didn’t feel quite right.

That he ultimately decided to stay with the Pacers by way of a five-year, $90 million dollar contract extension tells a lot about the 23-year-old who played high school ball at Knight High in Palmdale before developing into a first-round pick after two years at Fresno State.

The Pacers were onto something special, and he couldn’t see himself abandoning a franchise on the cusp of multiple championship runs and a fan base that’s wrapped him up like a warm, winter coat.

“I have obligations in Indiana to get the job done and win championships and get a trophy there,” he said.

Still, it makes you wonder what the perception is of the Lakers among the NBA’s upper-echelon players.

Let’s face it. Dwight Howard wanted no part of them and fled the moment he had a chance last summer. He also left more than $20 million on the table to do so.

Meanwhile, Carmelo Anthony resisted the Lakers’ overtures this summer despite a max contract offer exceeding $90 million and LeBron James barely gave them the time of day before returning home to Cleveland.

Taken individually, there are compelling reasons why George and the others decided against the Lakers.

But taken collectively, it’s disconcerting that so many star players are avoiding a franchise that once pulled in the giants of the game.

On one hand, George thinks the Lakers still are a desirable destination.

“How could you not want to play in L.A.?” he said. “The history of playing in L.A., the culture of L.A. and them being up there with the Celtics as the most successful organizations in our league, how can you not want to play here?”

On the other, there are some pitfalls.

“Where a lot of guys kind of lose it, there is pressure,” he conceded. “You have to come and perform. There’s constantly stars coming to games. It’s just a lot of pressure and a lot of people and eyes are on you and a lot of distractions in L.A. So, there’s pressure there.”

And given the current status of the Lakers’ roster, there’s little chance of any deep playoff runs anytime soon.

It would be one thing to come to the Lakers of 2007 — with Bryant still in his prime and a formidable supporting cast around him — and be the missing piece like Pau Gasol.

But it’s something else entirely when you’d literally be the savior to build around.

That was the decision that confronted Anthony this summer when the Lakers came calling.

“When you’re down the line in a career like he’s at, you’re building something and with him being in New York, I think that was the main reason he decided to stay,” George said. “Because you come to L.A. you’re going to have to start fresh all over again and he’s at a point in his career he’s ready to win now. That was the deciding factor.”

That was one of the reasons George opted to sign the extension last fall to stay in Indiana. The Pacers were coming off an epic seven-game Eastern Conference Final with the Miami Heat and were regarded as the favorites to push through to the finals in 2014.

Paul wanted to be the focal point of that ascent. But what started out as coronation was interrupted by an unfathomable stretch in which the Pacers pulled one of the great Jekyll and Hyde acts of all time.

One night they’d look like the best team in the league, followed by three games in which they played like a lottery team.

They played embarrassingly bad in ugly home losses, were pushed to seven games in the first round by the eighth-seeded Atlanta Hawks and fell behind 2-3 before saving their season with two consecutive wins.

There were chemistry issues, finger pointing and games in which some players simply disappeared.

They still managed to reach the conference finals, where the Heat took them out in six games, but the Pacers who ended the season looked very little like the ones that started it.

Ultimately, George felt the Pacers simply lost their way after getting caught up in their success.

“Before we were hungry,” he said. “We started the year off hungry, the bad taste from the year before was in our mouths and everyone was on a mission. Once we started to win, the game was coming too easy. We were running away from our opponents and we just kind of forgot that edge.”

And that doomed them.

“It was a point where we came into games thinking we could just turn it on, regardless if we started bad or not. And I think that kind of put us in a funk to where teams were starting to really play us and get ready for us,” he said.

“We weren’t the team chasing opponents. We were being chased and we couldn’t find that balance between getting that edge back we started the season with.”

Despite it all, they did manage to get to the conference finals. And for George, that’s worth remembering.

“We were still a great team. We still had pieces, despite the year we had. We had the pieces to win a championship,” he said. “Ultimately we couldn’t put it together at the right time. Had we started the playoffs in November or December we’d probably be holding up a trophy. We peaked too early.”

Nevertheless, he’ll return next season to a team very much on the cusp of greatness. It’s the anchor that kept him docked in Indiana, even if it meant declining a chance to play for the Lakers.

“It would be awesome to play at home,” he said. “But I love where I am.”